German film director Werner Herzog is among the 15 filmmakers who have made next year’s Oscar shortlist for best documentary film, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills has announced.

Out of 94 submitted documentaries, more than in any previous year, “Encounters at the End of the World,” set in Antarctica, is now eligible to compete for one of the five slots in the feature documentary category in February.

Herzog is known for stunning documentaries such as “Grizzly Man” which chronicles the life and death of bear enthusiast Timothy Treadwell.

Errol Morris, who won an Academy Award in 2004 for his documentary "The Fog of War," is in the running for the 81st Oscar as well. This year's nominee, “Standard Operating Procedure,” is a study of torture in Abu Ghraib in Iraq and has already earned him the Silver Bear at the 2008 Berlinale film festival in February.

Nominations in all categories will be announced on January 22, with the awards taking place exactly one month later in Hollywood.

Bill Maher's religious satire "Religulous," the top-grossing documentary of the year with domestic sales of $12.6 million, failed to make the list. But plenty of other hot-button topics were represented.

Following is a list of the other contenders:

- Joshua Tickell's "Fuel" looks at the energy crisis;

- Patrick Creadon's "I.O.U.S.A." takes on the credit crunch;

- Peter Gilbert and Steve James' "At the Death House Door" examines a case of capital punishment gone wrong;

- Carl Deal and Tia Lessin's Sundance winner "Trouble the Water" looks back at Hurricane Katrina;

- Robert Grossman's "Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh" remembers the Hungarian poet captured by the Nazis;

- Scott Hicks' "Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts" centers on composer Philip Glass;

- Jeremiah Zagar's "In a Dream" is a study of the director's father, mosaic artist Isaiah Zagar;

- James Marsh's "Man on Wire" celebrates high-wire artist Philippe Petit;

- Ellen Kuras' "The Betrayal -- Nerakhoon" follows a family that emigrates from Laos;

- Gini Reticker's "Pray the Devil Back to Hell" studies politically active women in Liberia;

- Daniel Junge's "They Killed Sister Dorothy" reports on a Catholic nun killed in the Brazilian rain forest;

- Scott Hamilton Kennedy's "The Garden" trains its cameras on a community garden in South Central L.A.